ASSAR's work in Kenya

Semi-arid regions in northern and eastern Kenya, are highly dynamic systems that experience changeable and sometimes extreme climates, adverse environmental change, and a relative insufficiency of natural resources. Historically, people living in these regions had livelihoods that were well-suited to these conditions. Today, however, many communities are showing increased vulnerability due to challenges such as political marginalisation, underdevelopment, poverty, inequality, unfair governance systems, maladaptive policies, and increasing population growth. Climate change is expected to exacerbate existing levels of vulnerability, as temperatures rise, rainfall decreases and seasonal climate patterns become more variable.

From 2014-2018, ASSAR’s East Africa team worked in Kenya and Ethiopia to better understand these existing and upcoming challenges. Made up of a team of researchers and practitioners from the University of Nairobi, Addis Ababa University, University of East Anglia, and Oxfam GB, we concentrated most of our work in Kenya in the counties of Isiolo, Meru and Samburu (our case study area). In both Kenya and Ethiopia we used a parallel case study approach in order to best analyse how changing social and environmental conditions interact in practice. We combined these analyses with activities at regional and national levels to generate transferable insights for policy and practice on the changing nature of vulnerability and response to environmental change. We hope that this detailed work can contribute to knowledge on how to enhance the ability of communities, local organisations and government to adapt to climate change in ways that minimise vulnerability and promote long-term resilience.

Key insights

Factors like gender, age, location, livelihood, and status intersect with social and economic characteristics like household composition, social capital, marital status, income, and educational attainment to determine people’s capacity to effectively respond to climate risks and impacts. Adaptation policies need to consider these intersecting factors explicitly to enable the most marginalised to adapt.

Although decentralisation has enabled local officials to respond to local needs flexibly and effectively, greater coordination between levels and sectors of government, as well as more resources, better alignment of planning and development cycles, and better provision of timely and relevant information, would further strengthen action on water governance and disaster risk management.

Conservancies have benefitted communities with improved governance, more livelihood opportunities, and enhanced social services. To continue to build resilience, further improvements are required to reduce tensions between communities within and outside conservancies, enable more sustainable and equitable approaches to natural resource management and livelihoods, and address ongoing problems associated with human-wildlife conflict.

Recognising that interventions will result in trade-offs, with some people winning and others losing, is important. Including affected populations more concretely in decisions about interventions will help to identify the main trade-offs, support more effective design and implementation of interventions, avoid unintended consequences – especially for the most vulnerable, and help to ensure that the needs of those typically excluded from decision making are heard and valued.

Click here for more detail, and ASSAR's specific recommendations for policy, practice, and research